The Great War of Broken Sparks
by Kikizehfox
Summary: A story based mostly around mine and my friend's OCs. Very Angsty. Character death.
1. Memories and Energon

**AN: Gizmo, Cyberwave, Fang and Techno all belong to me. Requiem and Silverstreak belong to LadyLucis. Tracks and the whole Transformers concept belong to HasTak.**

**Warning: HOLY SHIZ ANGST.**

Gizmo swished the energon in her glass, looking at the pink liquid with a solemn expression. She was thinking. Of lost friends, lost loves, lost students. Too much loss. She sighed, glancing at herself. He paint had faded to a dull orange, a red stripe that was just as faded running down each of her sides. Well abused digits held the cube tightly. She sighed, orange optics sad and un-focused.

_Cr-ack! Bang! Fwoom._

_The gunfire surrounded them. Gizmo was knelt over Fang, trying to patch him up. Fang, Primus, Fang. One of her old students, back from when she taught Cybertron History. Early on in the war, in the Decepticon Academy. Before it was finalized that everyone in that school would be forced to join in the war. Back when Fang was just a troublemaking senior and Gizmo was a young teacher._

"_Fang! Stay with me! For the love of Primus, you better listen to me this time!" Gizmo was almost crying, hands not wanting to work properly as she tried to repair the damaged chest plating. But the pale glow of the mech's spark was fading so fast, becoming so small. "Fang, please!" Her voice no longer carried the angry authority of a teacher. Now her tone was more like that of a grieving creator. Gizmo felt the femme who was watching over her as she worked rest a hand on her shoulder._

"_Gizmo, please, he's gone." The green and silver femme had realized it before Gizmo allowed it to slap her in her face. Gizmo watched her student fade. Her spark broke then, and she squeezed her optics shut. The orange femme grabbed her vocal processor, ripping it from her own throat. The green femme made a quiet, alarmed sound. //I never meant to fail him this way.// Was all the orange teacher-turned-medic could say as she rose to her feet, giving the white crosses, symbolizing her status as medic, an angry glance. Together the two femmes left the silver body behind, the green one muttering an ancient blessing. They were probably the only ones who bothered to do that anymore._

"Gizmo? Long time no see." The voice was familiar, and pulled Gizmo from her reverie. The femme looked up to see a silver mech approaching. This one was larger than the one she'd just been daydreaming about. He'd always been better armed as well. He had always been better for war.

"Hello Requiem. I hope you and your family are doing well." Gizmo answered. She knew the mech well enough. Much of her time with the Decepticon Earth troops had been with the silver espionage agent. Currently though, the silver mech was the commander of the Decepticon forces, and one of the first to sign the peace treaty that ended the Great War.

"We are, thank you." The answer did not surprise Gizmo in the slightest. Requiem was in a very high position of power. He had been since the end of the war. The system of politics hadn't changed much on Cybertron. It had been eerie, returning to Cybertron to re-build it. But now, years later, Gizmo was rusting away and watching old comrades and enemies make peace and re-build Cybertron better than ever. "What have you been up to?" Requiem once again brought her to the present.

"I'm a teacher now." Gizmo replied. She'd returned to the job after the war, happy to be back in a classroom. Education was a focus for the younglings who'd gone without it in the heat of war. Gizmo was a strict teacher, but went about her duties with an almost motherly care. She thought it was a teacher's duty to nurture the minds of their students. So, while keeping her class disciplined, she was also careful to explain things, and would always stay after class to help a student in need. Not that Requiem would know that, not being one of her students. Although, something did come to mind. Or, rather, someone had poked forward. "Have you found yourself a new femme?" Gizmo asked. It was a touchy question, unfortunately...

_Gizmo could see Cyberwave in the distance. The green sniper was awfully obvious in the desert. Which was probably why the green femme, who had so often kept Gizmo safe as she healed others, was now fighting hand to hand. That style of fighting was a weak point for the Decepticon though. _

_The battle was harsh, the hot Earthen sun beating down on the fighting bots and cons, near boiling the energon running through their cables. Gizmo had dealt with many a heat related problem today. Gizmo looked around for more injured, though she had to be careful. There was no one guarding her back today, and ripping out her vocal processor had very quickly turned out to be a bad mistake. _

_Gizmo could see both Autobot and Decepticon casualties were growing. And that's when she heard a scream that made her turn, horror filling her. Cyberwave was staggering back, hand lifted to her chest. Her arm was out, weapon in hand as she fired. Gizmo barely even noticed she was running for Cyberwave. She felt a shot ricochet off of her arm. Tearing across the battlefield was not the brightest thing Gizmo had ever done. But she was horrified. She soon found herself near Cyberwave, kneeling next to the femme. Gizmo could already tell there was nothing she could do. It was a miracle that Cyberwave was still alive, actually._

_//'Wave... I... I...// Tears were flooding the medic's eyes as she hugged the femme a little. Cyberwave gave her a small smile in turn. Gizmo wanted to scream. Cyberwave was a dear friend, who was killed by some that stupid, egotistical, Tracks._

"_Nothing you could've done Gizzy. Maybe you could take my vocal processor. I sure as pit don't need it..." Cyberwave's voice was quiet, and the green femme began coughing violently. Gizmo could do nothing as the femme coughed pink energon on herself. One of Cyberwave's coughs was too much. The green femme, still clutching her chest wound with one hand, fell to the side. The color faded from her armor, and Gizmo let out an anguished cry, turning to rip the energon lines from Tracks' throat . But Requiem had appeared, and was beating the slag out of the Autobot criminal._

"No, I haven't. I'd... Prefer not to anyway. What about you?" Requiem replied. Gizmo smiled, quietly pleased with his loyalty to the dead femme. A good mech was something Requiem had always been.

"I'm mated to energon cubes and toasts." Gizmo shook her head sadly, spark aching at the mere thought of love. Love hurt too much. The war hat taught her that. "And my job, of course." Gizmo closed her optics, taking a sip. "Want a cube, Rekkie? My treat." Gizmo smirked slightly at this. Rekkie smiled back.

"Sure, why not." Requiem said. Gizmo signaled to the 'bot tending the bar, and soon enough both she and Requiem had a fresh cube in front of them. But Rekkie's expression turned to a bit sad once more as he asked, "So when did you decide to go for it?" Gizmo winced, knowing precisely what the silver mech meant.

_Gizmo looked sadly at the vocal processor of her passed friend. She'd been having staring contests with it ever since she pulled it from her subspace compartment, months before. //Do you really want me to have it, Cyberwave?// Gizmo wondered as a loud as she could, although no one would hear her voice on the comm. No one was on the other end to listen. But Gizmo could swear she felt two gentle servos push her toward the device. //If you insist...// Gizmo added, a sad smile forming on her faceplates as she lifted up the vocal processor._

_Soon enough, she had managed to connect the device. "Testing..." She muttered, Cyberwave's voice coming from her own throat. It shocked her. She adjusted the settings, recovering her own voice soon enough. "Thanks 'Wave, but sounding like you would creep me out." Gizmo whispered to the empty air around her. And she could have sworn she heard Cyberwave quietly laughing._

"It was a little while after you were put in command of the Decepticons." Gizmo answered. Their conversation dissolved into lesser topics, mostly politics. What was going on in the Autobot party, How Soundwave and the cassettes were doing, what was going on with the war memorial...

Almost three years later, Gizmo was leading her class toward a memorial. "The Great war was a devastating conflict. It was the worst war in our race's history. Although some good did come of it. I met some of the greatest mechs and femmes to ever live. Some say that Decepticons were menaces, pure evil. Others say that it was all the Autobots fault, and that they should have been punished." With this, Gizmo turned to face her class. "I believe that this was a war caused by ignorance. That is why you are receiving an education, to prevent another tragedy like this. The names on this memorial show the names of the heroes and villains of this war." Gizmo said, she watched as her class roamed around the memorial, and after a while, she called them back over so she could answer their questions.

"Who was Fang?" A bright pink femme asked Gizmo, Red eyes wide and curious.

"Fang? He was a Decepticon intel agent. He was young though, too young when he died." Gizmo said. "Techno?" Gizmo called on another student.

"Who was Cyberwave?" The blue male asked, bright blue optics glowing. They almost hurt her. He screamed Autobot and innocence. So unlike his father when it came to image though.

"She was a Sniper, also in the Decepticon army. She was killed by your father, Tracks, actually." The youngling seemed to notice the sadness on the teacher's face as she said this.

"What role did you play in the war, Miss Gizmo?" Silverstreak, a petite seeker, and relative to Rekkie, questioned. Gizmo knew that the little femme probably knew damn well.

"I was the Decepticon medic. I worked with Cyberwave, Requiem, and Fang most often though. For a while it was just us on Earth. But, I survived the war, and I'm here to teach you about those who didn't. Now, before you ask anymore questions about the mechs and femmes not in your textbook, I want you to realize something. All of them were good Cybertronians, who were fighting for what they knew was right." Gizmo told her class. All of her students nodded in understanding. The group of younglings was rewarded with a smile from the medic-turned-teacher. "So, do we have any more meaningful questions?" Gizmo asked. And gosh, did they...


	2. Cyberwave's Death: Her POV

**An: In case you haven't realized, there's no connection between this story and my others.**

**Anyway, here's a shot second chapter.**

**Cyberwave and Gizmo belong to me.**

**Disclaimer: Tracks belongs to HasTak**

**Requiem belongs to Lady Lucis**

The fight with the Autobot was fair. For once it was hand to hand combat. It wasn't Cyberwave's strongest point, but she wasn't exactly doomed either. She caught the autobots fist in one servo, moving to slug him with the other. Soon enough she was backing a way a bit from the mech, the metal of the mechs face now having a dent. The egotistical Autobot snarled, pulling out his blaster faster than Cyberwave could draw her own weapon. She mech fired at her, hitting her in a spot that was already weak from a previous fight. Cyberwave cried out in pain, clutching her chest. The blast had grazed her spark. She fired at Tracks once in a desperate attempt. She staggered backwards, finally falling over.

"Cyberwave!" Requiem's scream was probably worse than the wound. She could hear his anger and pain. He knew, oh Primus he'd seen. Cyberwave squeezed her eyes shut, as if to protect herself from what was happening. She opened her eyes to see Tracks, the fragging Autobot, standing over her. His blaster was aimed to finish her off, and fluid came to Cyebrwave's optics. She hated the tears as much as she hated the smirk on the mech's face. But suddenly the blue mech was tackled away by a silver blur.

//Rekkie...// Cyberwave managed over the comm. In a way, she wanted to stop him. She didn't want him to get hurt. A foolish hope, as they were in the middle of a war. But her voice was weak even over the comm, and she had a quiet desire to see Tracks get slagged.

//Don't worry. Gizmo is coming.// Rekkie's promised. Cyberwave didn't argue. She didn't want to tell him. She was afraid it would make it worse. Her Spark wasn't pulsing right. Her spark itself was going out. Abnormally slowly, like someone was trying to give her time for goodbyes. Gizmo arrived, and Cyberwave tried to re-assure the very upset medic. There was nothing anyone could have done.

//There's nothing I can do, Rekkie.// Was what Requiem heard from the medic. Gizmo couldn't... Cyberwave would... _No!_ Reqiem's thought was more like a silent plea to Primus, or anyone who would hear him.

//I love you, Rekkie...// Cyberwave forced herself to comm the silver corvette. She knew she'd kick herself is she didn't. A coughing fit soon overwhelmed her. But soon enough, the pain in her chest was gone. Everything was going black. //I...I... L-l-l-l-oooo-ve y-y-y-ooooo// Cyberwave's comm to Rekkie was a desperate last attempt, in case he hadn't heard her earlier.

Rekkie soon heard a loud keening noise. He kicked the very injured autobot away, horror filling him at Cyberwave's words. And at that desperate, final attempt that was so garbled and broken. He ran over to Gizmo and Cyberwave. He picked up Cyberwave gently just as the last of her armor grayed. "I lo-love you t-to, Cyberwave..." Rekkie whispered. His voice caught in his throat a few times as he tried to add, "P-p-please w-wake up!"


	3. Born of Ashes

**An: Yup, another chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If the names ****ARE NOT**** Gizmo, Requiem or Cyberwave than thay belong to HasTak**

**Gizmo and Cyberwave are MINE**

**Requiem belongs to LadyLucis**

Megatron rose up from the pod in which he'd traveled back down to Earth. Behind him, Starscream was doing the same. The troops were approaching, looking battered. They had just been in a battle. Megatron scanned the group as they arrived, keeping an icy expression while worry built up in him. Where was she? Again red optics looked over every soldier. Requiem, Gizmo, Thundercraker, Skywarp, Soundwave... The mental checklist continued. Almost everyone accounted for. But the one femme he was looking for was not.

"Where is Cyberwave?" Megatron asked. Cyberwave wasn't answering her comm link. It wasn't helping him keep the mask he was clinging to. Had to stay neutral. Had to try to act like he didn't care. He couldn't show favoritism amongst his troops. He had enough problems when it came to loyalty from his second in command. But the gathered troops were so quiet he could have heard a pebble being dropped.

"One of the Autobots got her in the battle just now." Skywarp piped up. Megatron turned to the purple mech. He saw that one of his wings had been torn off. He looked pained. Megatron watched as Gizmo, the medic, approached the purple 'con. She added in her own input as she tried to stem Skywarp's energon flow.

//It was Tracks. I saw it happen. I tried to reach her, but the Autobot's shot hit a previously injured spot in her armor. It directly grazed her spark. It was a miracle she was alive when I reached her.// Gizmo informed them sadly. It was the first time she'd

vocalized it. The medic fault as though she failed. Her voice was neutral over the comm link though, and she was glad it didn't betray her. //It was Tracks.// She added, re-focusing on Skywarp's wound.

"Did anyone fight Tracks afterward?" Megaton's voice had changed slightly, now holding the cold promise of Death for the Autobot.

"I did. Slagged him pretty good. I left him alive for you though, Lord Megatron." Requiem said. The silver corvette's own voice betrayed him though. Anger and sorrow made the tones of his voice marginally deeper, and he sounded as though he were choking the words out as opposed to just saying them. Megatron nodded once in reply. The gray mech closed his optics for a moment, as if deep in thought. He could feel the gazes of the Decepticon army boring into him.

"Lord Megatron!" Astrotrain's voice interrupted the quiet moment, "The Autobots are coming back for round two!" The large mech looked as though he'd been playing dodge ball with asteroids, and lost. The mech's right optic was hanging out, connected by a single wire. Energon had caked itself around the wound, a dirty pink after being mixed with the sand from the desert. For a long moment, Megatron didn't reply. The leaders shoulder's sagged slowly. He was tired. Tired and annoyed. And inside, he was grieving.

"What happened to her body? I want to make sure it gets taken care of." Megatron said. Who know what those slag for brains Autobots would do if they found a Decepticon corpse. And they were usually a bit vengeful if one of their comrades had been hurt recently.

~-~-~-x-x-x-~-~-~

Nearly a month passed before the Autobots and the Decepticons met in battle once again. Gizmo had already found herself healing an Autobot on accident twice. It didn't seem anyone knew what a can of paint was anymore, and you'd think the Autobots would be at least a little more proud of their faction. They were the 'good guys' on this planet, after all. _Stupid similar paint colors. _Was all Gizmo could think to herself. It didn't help that the femme was working on a million things at once. She had to try and constantly look around for enemies while still working on her patients. She didn't have enough optics, really. She nearly tripped over the next mech she came across. She recognized him instantly, a small smirk forming at his heavily injured form. _Tracks._

"S-s-s-s..." Sparks shot from the Autobot's throat at his attempt to speak. His main energon line was fully exposed. Gizmo knelt down next to the blue egomaniac. She pulled out a scalpel and ran it down the energon line, watching the pink fluid follow her blade. Tracks' optics went wide, and he weakly flailed, although Gizmo kept him from grabbing the energon line. Within a few moments, Track's movement stopped, followed by the dim glow of his optics fading, and finally the color draining from him.

//Tracks is dead.// Gizmo called in a rather merry tone over an open comm, available to 'Bots and 'Cons alike. Gizmo stood up, leaving the body stained in its own fluids. She soon found herself on a fairly low cliff side. When she looked down, the thrill of avenging Cyberwave dissipated like fog. Gizmo could see her comrades fighting, not all that surprising. What had caught her attention though, was the camouflaged air commander approaching Lord Megatron from behind. Megatron himself was busy fighting Prime, so he wouldn't have noticed the seeker approaching, blaster out and aimed. For Megatron. Gizmo's spark paused a moment. She leapt at Starscream and tackled him, taking down the seeker by slamming into his shoulders before rolling ahead a few feet. When she looked up again, she realized she had knocked Starscream's blaster away from him, but their leader was also approaching.

"What is going on?" Megatron demanded, looking utterly annoyed. Starscream was scowling from where he was, still on the ground. The seeker didn't speak in his own defense though. Instead, Gizmo spoke up.

//He had his blaster in his hand, aimed at your back.// Gizmo said. The Decepticon leader would easily be able to piece together without Gizmo explaining that as well. And she could see that he did. Megatron was soon gripping Starscream's sensitive wing tightly, and painfully, if Starscream's expression was anything to go by.

"I will deal with you later." Megatron promised the seeker, before releasing the wing and smashing the blaster underneath his foot. Megatron than turned around to face Prime, who had re-appeared. After giving Starscream a last, spiteful glace, Gizmo scurried off back to work. She was, after all, supposed to be healing the injured Decepticons, not ratting out her air commander.

~-~-~-x-x-x-~-~-~

When Megatron returned to base alone, after leaving with Starscream, no questions were asked. Salutes carried on as per usual. Everyone cheered when Soundwave was promoted to second in command, and when Thundercracker became their new air commander. It was a welcome change, really, as both mechs had always done their jobs with pride. Their loyalty to the Decepticon cause had never come into question. And no one really wanted to know what had been done to the traitorous Starscream.

~-~-~-x-x-x-~-~-~

The battlefield fell silent. Gizmo looked up from her work on Blackout's leg to see what had happened. She quite nearly dropped her tools. Prime and Megatron were facing each other, Megatron's back toward Gizmo. There was orange poking out of the leaders back, right through where his spark chamber would be. Movement returned to both leaders as they staggered away from each other. Gizmo saw one of Lord Megatron's blades still lodged between Prime's optics. The flamed 'Bot fell backward first. Gizmo could see a neon blur headed for the fallen leader before the mech's body could even hit the ground. Gizmo rushed through repairing Blackout to a point where he could stand and walk on his own. Then she was on her feet, moving to her own fallen leader. She paused a little ways away, taking in the scene before her.

Pink energon was forming puddles from the ghastly wounds of both leaders. The liquid was damn near identical in color. It was almost surprising for two mechs who were so very different during their lifetimes. Mechs and femmes from both sides were moving to their fallen leaders. Megatron was gone, Gizmo could easily see that. Astrotrain was transforming now, Megatron being loaded into the back of the titanic mech. Gizmo moved closer again, coming into hearing range. Soundwave was ordering them back to base. Gizmo could see Requiem nearby, looking tense with curled fists. This was hard for him. Perhaps harder than most.

Gizmo could detect all sorts of emotions on the faces of her comrades, anger, pain, relief, hope... Hope was the most scarce, but it was still noticeable. More noticeable than others, simply because it was so positive in such a bad time. And Gizmo felt it herself. The two mechs who had brought the war to life had now been claimed by the monster they created. Perhaps the war would now go with them?

~-~-~-x-x-x-~-~-~

Years later, the hope for the future had not died. The war had ended soon after the battle that took Prime and Megatron. Possibilities to save Cybertron had been discovered, and most of the Transformers had returned to their home planet. They lived under a peace treaty that was not only between the Autobots and Decepticons, but with the humans as well. The Autobots and Decepticons lived as two separate 'races' in a system not un-like that of the humans, but still very different. Each side had their own leaders, but there were laws to keep both sides in check, and Neutrals who ensured that the laws were minded.

Of course, minor changes occurred. Requiem was experiencing one. The Decepticon had recently been asked to take over command of the Decepticons, since Soundwave was retiring. Requiem had yet to say weather or not he would take the job or not. Did he want command of all of his comrades? The young mech was musing this when a knock came to the door of his office in the building where he worked. Well, it wasn't work. More like slavery, being forced to fill out as many data pads as he did.

"Come in!" Requiem called to his knocker, trying to quickly create some semblance of neatness on his desk as whomever had knocked came in and sat down across from him. "Hi Dad." Rekkie greeted as he looked up to see that it was Soundwave who had come to visit him. Soundwave's mask was down for once, a small smile in its place.

"Hello Requiem." Soundwave's deep voice replied in it's usual neutral sound. The mech was still used to acting like a zombie, despite the fact that he didn't _have _to anymore. "So, you haven't given an answer to weather or not you'll take over leadership of the Decepticons or not?" Requiem winced a little as Soundwave quickly got to the point of his visit. Really, Rekkie should have expected that.

"I... Haven't. I don't know if I want to or not." Requiem answered. The question shouldn't have been hard. When he was younger, he probably would have leapt at the chance.

"Why?" Soundwave's voice now at least had curiosity running through it, making his sound less like a drone. Red eyes scanned over Rekkie, as if trying to see the answer written upon the younger mech's armor somewhere. "You used to be so eager for your chance as one of the higher ups." Rekkie sighed this time, trying to think of the best way to put it.

"That was before two of my very good fr-friends," requiem choked on the word a bit. The word friend didn't fit, exactly, "Were killed. It... Doesn't feel right to... Do this without them." Soundwave looked like he understood what his sparkling meant, and offered Requiem a small smile.

"You shouldn't let the ghost's of your past control your life now, Rekkie." Soundwave said before standing up. It was rare that the older mech would use the nickname. Soundwave left his son with those words. Requiem stared at the closed door after his father left, thinking over what to do again.

Well, he did hate this job. And Cyberwave would have encouraged him. Anf Fang would have wrote the acceptance letter for him. Requiem sighed, a small smile forming on his faceplates. Leading the Decepticons couldn't be so hard now, right? Not with the peace treaty and the careful balance that was being kept. He pulled out a data pad, writing a letter confirming that he would, in fact, be taking the job.

~-~-~-x-x-x-~-~-~

Nights off were a very rare occurrence for Requiem. So tonight, he was spending it looking for an old friend. he hadn't seen her in quite some time, and he was honestly worried about the medic. He'd found out where she might be though. Requiem pushed his way into the older looking bar. It seemed as though it had existed for centuries before the war. In the corner, he saw who he was looking for.

"Hey Gizmo, long time no see." Requiem greeted, settling himself down in a chair next to the medic.


	4. Moving Forward, but Not On

_**AN: HOLY CRAP! It's an update! xD Sorry, my muse hasn't really been for 'writing' lately. So, now you have a bunch of cute & sad little snippets of me and Lady Lucis Romeo & Juliet -Aka: Rekkie and Wave-**_

_**Disclaimer: The concept of Transformers, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Prowl and Soundwave all belong to HasTak. Everyone else belongs to either me or Lady Lucis.**_

_**~_~_~_x_x_x_~_~_~**_

"_Be safe." His slightly pleading tone was almost funny. When did he start caring co much? It made her happy though, knowing he cared. Not that she could let him know how much it meant to her._

"_It's a battle. Kinda hard to do that, but I always try." Her tone was a little amused and teasing, trying to lighten the mood. He'd been trying to talk her out of this battle for days._

"_Wave, seriously. Please?" There was something in his optics that made her stop. That made any sarcastic comment die before it left her processor._

"_I promise I will do my best, Rekkie." She promised, finally allowing herself to be serious and giving him a meaningful look before moving out of the hall and into the hangar to transform and join the others, hearing him do the same._

It was the last real exchange she'd had with the Decepticon espionage agent. After that was the battle with the Autobots. After that everything was a blur. Well, not really. There was a single moment of clarity, Telling Rekkie she loved him. The damn feeling pent up in her chest plates for longer than it should have. She shouldn't have pushed it off. But she did. And so all she could manage were two broken and garbles comms, trying to tell him.

_/I love you, Rekkie. I-I l-l-l-o-o-o-o-o-v-v-e y-y-yooooooooooo/ _

And than it had all gone black. Everything darker than night. She never heard if Rekkie answered her.

_She woke up on a berth. The cold metal chilled her. She sat up with a groan. Her processor ached and her spark hurt. A bolt of shock went through her._

_She'd died. Tracks had blasted her in the spark chamber. She'd felt the cold thrill of death already. But her she was, sitting up. She was alive. Her comm links were down, but she was alive. She looked around the room, realizing she didn't recognize it. This wasn't Decepticon headquarters. Which was when a fairly familiar mech came in. She knew him from her sparkling-hood on Cybertron._

"_Storm?" She asked, optics widening in shock. Storm was a taller, black painted bot, and he offered a polite smile._

"_Hello Cyberwave. I'm glad that I was able to save you." She could tell from the look in Storm's optics that he meant it. She smiled back, despite the red insignias he wore. It was good to see him alive._

"_Wave..." Storm's expression had fallen a little, "Wave, I need a favor..." _

Cyberwave's life had changed when she accepted that favor. She changed her pain to a powder blue, her optics replace with bright blue ones. The faction symbol she bore went from purple to red. Her designation became Pixel. Her alternate mode became a Volkswagen Beetle. She gave up her entire life as a Decepticon merely to save her life. She faked memory loss. The Autobots bought it. She became a communications officer, and therefore was rarely called into battle. It was a strange, difficult change for her to make. She'd been out on the field for so long...

_/Bee, I swear to Primus, you have ten seconds to comm back or I will ensure you're doing training sims for the next six months!/ Pixel threatened angrily over the comm link. The yellow mech had been blowing everyone off the entire day. He seemed to respond best to threats from the blue communications officer._

_/I'm sorry! Sam has had me out all day!/ Bumblebee commed back, causing relief to spread over the room like a blanket. Everyone had been fearing the worst for the yellow mech._

_/Dumb aft. Answer your damn comm link next time!/ She replied with a sigh, leaning back in her seat and sharing a 'he's an idiot!' look with Rewind. The red communications officer smirked in reply as a few mechs and femmes left. They were off shift now._

She adjusted pretty well. She let herself become Pixel, Cyberwave only coming out with Techno and Storm or late at night when she was alone in her quarters. Memories would ghost through her mind during those times, and she would wonder about Gizmo and Rekkie and the others she cared about. Pixel's life was dull. Cyberwave's life had been one of excitement.

_/Dad.../ That was all Pixel could manage over the comm as Techno broke the news to her. Cyberwave's father, Lord Megatron, was dead. Stabbed in the spark by Optimus Prime. But her father had stabbed Prime right in the processor. Both of the wars great leaders were dead._

The event had marked the beginning of the end of the war. Fighting carried on for a few months, but in the end, peace was reached and the war ended.

"_Prowl, what happened?" The two leaders had been away for quite some time, discussing the treaty. The Autobot leader was swarmed as soon as he got home. Everyone had been waiting, Pixel in the back of the crowd, but still eagerly listening. _

"_We outlined the terms of the treaty. Peace has been reached between our factions and with the humans as well. The war is over." In that moment, something that most of the mechs and femmes on base thought was impossible happened. Prowl smiled. A cheer went through the crowd of Autobots, Pixel included._

_The war was over. They were done fighting. They were free._

Things finally looked up for Pixel. Storm and the other Autobot scientists teamed up with the brighter bulbs in the Decepticon army to find a way to save Cybertron. They found it. Pixel was with the first group that returned to Cybertron. And slowly, the planet was returned to its former glory.

Well, there were still bad spots of the planet. The underground fighting rings in Koan were a perfect example. After everything, Pixel found it difficult to come by enough credits to survive, and no one was paying her now that she was out of the army. Cyberwave took control again. Entering the ring was one of the few things that didn't go through an extensive background check. Pixel didn't have the credentials for that, and Cyberwave was dead. So, fighting became her best bet. The fighting rings were surprisingly popular, being one of the first sports to really get back into gear. She rose through the ranks under the name Pixel. She learned to forget everything in that ring, just pretending that she was still fighting for some purpose other than pleasing the screaming crowd.

Duck. Dodge. Swing. Fighting had a rhythm to it. She was gaining popularity. Popularity meant sponsors. Sponsors meant credits. Credits meant she could move to a nice place and afford better energon and nicer paint and better upgrades. She'd switched back to a Lotus Elise shortly before going into the fighting rings, the alternate mode still saved from her time as a Decepticon. She kept the powder blue coloring. She liked the way it contrasted the work she did. Although she did get her optics fixed and made red again. She became a balance of Pixel and Cyberwave. They became one famme, although they kept the Autobot's name.

But once she left the ring, there was not the mindless rhythm. There were actual thoughts and feelings. There was the realization that she was splattered in energon, and not all of it was her own. She would wonder if anyone would ever be proud of what she was doing. She would shake those thoughts away as the fans closed in and she would have to push through the congratulatory crowd. She would eventually make it to the med. bay. She'd settle herself on an empty berth to wait, her mind imagining an orange medic.

"_T-t-th-hat w-w-as a g-g-g-o-ood f-fight P-i-ix-xel." The silver and purple femme who served as the medic stammered._

"_Thanks Rhaps." The medic's stammer made Cyberwave want to choke her. She was annoyingly shy and quiet. She didn't know how anyone could tolerate her. Pixel was nicer though. More tolerant. "Where were you last time?"_

"_M-m-y F-f-fath-ther re-t-tired fr-rom com-man-d-ding th-the D-d-cep-ti-icons." Rhapsody stammered out, "A-a-an-nd m-my bro-oth-ther Requ-quiem to-ook o-over. I w-w-was a-at th-the cere-remony." The mention of Requiem made her spark stop. He was in command of the Decepticons now? Primus, he'd done well for himself. Pixel plastered on a fake smile. She didn't want the medic to see her freak out._

"_I didn't know you had a brother! Commander of the 'Cons, eh? Good for him. Tell him the best femme fighter on Cybertron said congrats." Pixel said, injecting cockiness into her tone. She heard a slight giggle and a stuttered agreement from Rhapsody._

Pixel's routine had changed a bit after that. She kept a better eye on the news to keep up tabs on Rekkie. In the arena she actually tried to see some of her fans before the fight began, honestly hoping to see him there. She never did.

Three years. Three agonizing years of keeping up in the ring had given her nothing. The ring had become her life. She was famous for it. She rarely lost, and when she did, she would train even harder. Not that there was really anyone to impress. Because really, she was hiding from anyone who might have gotten close enough to her to be proud of her. She didn't want anyone to know how desperate she'd become. Not Rekkie, Not Gizmo, not anyone.

So when she left her home to go visit the war memorial, she wasn't quite sure why. She went anyway, wanting to see how it had come out. Wanting to see if Fang's name had been engraved. If her Father's name was there.

_Pixel avoided optic contact with the orange femme bot, who was clearly in charge of the younglings at the memorial. Gizmo. She looked pretty good, actually. Pixel wondered if anyone had told her about Storm's death. It was doubtful. She shook her head, listening to Gizmo speak. She tried to act natural as the students were dismissed, but Gizmo remained._

"_Hey, Aren't you Pixel? That bot who's in the head of the femme division in Koan?" Gizmo asked. That one shocked the powder blue femme. She couldn't help looking up and locking optics with the teacher. She saw shock cross her old friend's optics._

"_Hey Gizzy." Pixel knew she'd been caught from the look in the other's optics._

"_C-C-Cyberwave!" The orange stammered, optics wide with shock._

"_Been a long time since anyone called me that." Cyberwave let herself smirk, happy to feel like she was actually in her own armor._

Cyberwave and Gizmo spent a long time catching up after that. Wave did get the aft chewing of her life from the medic, but it was worth it to have Gizzy give her a friendly hug and smile. A few weeks later, Gizzy invited her to an old bar on the outskirts of Koan. The building look like it had existed since the dawn of time. Gizzy was easy to spot in the corner. Wave joined her, ordering a cube and greeting Gizmo.

"_So, don't slag me, but I invited someone else." Gizmo said once greetings were exchanged. There was a faint glimmer of excitement in the medic's optics. _

"_Who'd you invite? Your boy toy?" Wave replied in a teasing manner. She liked this. Being herself. It had been a while._

"_No, yours." Gizmo answered, smirking at the mildly confused look on Cyberwave's face. "Rekkie?"_

"_Primus, Gizzy! You didn't!" Wave hissed in reply, instantly embarrassed. But just then, the silver frame of a mech she could never forget entered the room. Wave ducked a little, trying to hide behind Gizzy. She wasn't sure if she could face him._

"_Cyberwave?" Oh, Primus, his voice hadn't changed at all. Still deep and musical and... She felt like she would die right than and there. She turned on her bar stool, cooling fans kicking on and getting the most evil giggle she'd ever heard from Gizmo._

"_Hi Rekkie." She replied, her optics meeting his. Her spark leapt, all of her old feelings happily re-surfacing to haunt her. She swallowed a bit nervously. Suddenly, she was in his arms. She hugged him back almost without thinking about it._

"_I love you too." The words made her spark temporarily flat line. He loved her back? She hugged him a little tighter._

In the bar, she had to explain what happened after she died. Gizmo left first of their group, and Rekkie and Wave ended up leaving together at closing time. Wave was a little dizzy from too much high grade, and found herself walking out of the bar with his arm protectively around her shoulders. She leaned heavilly against him, not to sure of her footing anymore. The high grade had left a pleasant buzzy feeling in her tanks and processor.

"_Where do you live, Wave?" Rekkie asked, clearly planning on walking her home. She giggled and thought about that a moment, giggling when she had her answer._

"_I don't remember." She answered, pouting a little before giggling again. She heard Rekkie sigh, but she didn't think much of it. _

"_I guess I have to take you home with me than." His tone was worried, but not annoyed. He pulled her a little closer, trying to keep the drunk femme on her feet._

They made it back to Rekkie's home without incident. His apartment was a mess. Not disgustingly so, or not so bad that Cyberwave really noticed through the high grade.

_Cyberwave onlined slowly, temporarily leaving her optics offline, not fully ready to greet her hangover. Her processor was pounding and her tanks were ready to purge. She registered the other presence in the berth than. An arm around her waist. She onlined her optics realizing just how close she was to -him-. Her head was on his arm as opposed to a pillow. She'd cuddled against him at some point, based on the fact that she couldn't even breathe without it reaching him. She glanced up toward his face, half surprised to see him online and smiling. Her cooling fans kicked on._

"_Good morning." He murmured. _

"_Morning." Wave squeaked out in answer. _

"_How are you feeling?" He sounded a little concerned. Wave paused for a moment. 'Like I could happily die right now.' probably wouldn't be the best answer._

"_Like I had too much high grade last night." _

That wasn't the last time Cyberwave woke up in Requiem's apartment. Although, it wasn't usually because she'd gotten drunk and forgotten where she lived. Wave happily got closer to Rekkie again. That didn't mean she always listened to him though.

_Rekkie had that look in his optics. That 'I have a sort of testy subject that I want to bring up' look. "Wave... I want you to stop fighting in the underground." He said, sitting next to her on the berth. _

"_There's nothing else for me to do Rekkie. I'm not like Gizzy. I didn't have a job before the war, and I don't have the right paperwork for all the background checks most jobs do." Cyberwave answered, gently squeezing his hand. "And until someone feels like paying me for sitting around and doing nothing, I'm going to keep what's already paying me pretty well." She knew that probably wasn't the answer he wanted, but it wasn't like there was anything else she could do._

Rekkie had started showing up to some of her matches. He never wanted to know if she was in any of the fight to the death matches, and she never invited him if she was. Really, she should have gotten over killing some time ago. She just knew she was good at it, and she was getting paid. So she would let her 'dark side' take over when she was in the ring. None of Pixel's compassion or Cyberwave's feelings affected that part of her that had been born in the ring.

Rekkie would show up to a few of her regular matches though. He probably had damn good seats too, although Wave never really had an open opportunity to look for him.

_Cyberwave had always sucked at hand to hand combat during the war. There was a reason that she was a sniper. It wasn't because she was a 'coward'. It was because it was the easiest thing for her to learn. But when she found herself in Koan, she had to learn to fight. She was creative and learned quickly enough after spending years out on the battlefield. She learned to shut out pain receptors in her doorwings and other sensitive areas. It all helped, especially during this fight._

"_You're going down, Princess." A familiar face, although Cyberwave couldn't put a name to it. A smirk appeared on the powder blue femme's face._

"_I doubt it." Banter was cut shot as her opponent lunged. Cyberwave easily dodged. The fight was short, merely because her opponent was a little too reckless and Cyberwave wasn't particularly patient. _

"_Pixel is the winner!" Cyberwave barely registered that announcement anymore. She looked around_, _finding one of her doorwings laying nearby. She winced, glad she'd thought to turn off her pain receptors as she went down toward the med bay. _

The med bay was the place that consumed more of her time than anywhere else. One medic could only do so much. And Pixel wasn't the only one who was coming down there injured. She was usually brushed off because of her minimal injuries. When Rhapsody come around she would get a stern look and a stuttered scolding for turning off her pain receptors.

_Cyberwave came into the med bay and set her doorwing down gently next to her. She watched Rhapsody moving between her patients, pushing Pixel's treatment off again. Cyberwave barely glanced up as someone else came into the med bay._

"_That was a good fight." Rekkie's tone was quiet. Wave could see in his optics that watching her doorwing get torn off had been difficult. It seemed like all of her fights were worse for him than they were for her._

"_Thanks." She replied, turning her pain receptors back on slowly. The pain in her back was terrible. But Rhaps was starting to get worse with her lectures if her pain receptors will still off when it was her turn to be healed. Just than, Rhaps came over and got to work._

"_Hi Rekkie." The lack of stutter was almost startling to Cyberwave. _

"_Hey Rhaps." Rekkie answered, a small smile on his faceplates. Cyberwave remembered that they were siblings than. She stayed quiet. Rhapsody was a quick worker. She let Cyberwave leave as soon as she'd finished re-attaching the blue's doorwing._

Rekkie started meeting Wave in the med bay more often after a fight. It sort of became routine. They would meet up, and than they would go out somewhere. It was nice. Wave loved just being with him, even if it meant they were constantly hiding from media drones in order to have some peace.

"_Does it suck, being to famous, Mr. Commander of the Decepticons?" Cyberwave asked teasingly. Her fingers were entwined with his. They'd just escaped the after-fight crowd in the arena. It was startlingly quiet compared to all the noise they'd been surrounded by. It was also pretty late though. _

"_Not when you're with me." He replied with a grin of his own, gently kissing her forehead. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her faceplates as he lead her... Somewhere. She was just sort of following him, not really caring where they were going. When they finally stopped, he turned to her._

"_What are you planning, Rekkie?" She asked curiously._

"_Offline your optics for a minute." He answered. She could tell he was up to something, but she complied anyway, feeling his hand leave hers. "Alright, you can look." She did and gasped. Rekkie was on one knee with an open box with a ring. _

"_Rekkie!" She could barely speak. She'd seen this a million times on the human's TV with her charge._

"_Will you be my sparkmate?" Rekkie asked. Wave hugged him tightly and kissed him._

"_Yes, of course!"_

Cyberwave couldn't have been happier. She had Rekkie. Rekkie had her. That was all that mattered. She gave up the fighting rings for him. He helped her get an actual job. Yes, she would admit, the fighting rings could barely be called a job. Switching from the rings to some boring job was weird, but it made Rekkie happy.

At least she didn't have to be someone she wasn't anymore.


End file.
